


You saw me standing alone

by MyLadyDay



Series: Blue moon [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M, Magic, Werewolf Marco, spell casting, witch ace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-20 18:17:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21061076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyLadyDay/pseuds/MyLadyDay
Summary: There was a light on the edge of his awareness, approaching where he stood, filling him with warmth as it drew nearer until Ace stopped reading and glanced towards the trees. He could tell there was someone there, someone who hesitated in the darkness.





	You saw me standing alone

**Author's Note:**

> This is set during chapter 1 of Blue Moon.
> 
> DO NOT COPY MY WORK TO OTHER SITES, THIS INCLUDES TRANSLATIONS MADE WITHOUT MY CONSENT.

“It’s the big leather book I left under the counter,” Rouge told him again, as if they hadn’t had this conversation already. “Don’t forget to put it back into the cover when you’re done.”

“I know, mom,” Ace said, rolling his eyes only because she couldn’t see him through the phone. He knew perfectly well how valuable the book was and he knew she knew it as well. 

“Don’t roll your eyes at me,” she said anyway, knowing him well enough to predict his sass. “The herbs are in my pouch in the top drawer, but you’ll have to restock it soon.”

“I know that too, mom,” he said, rolling his eyes again, but he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. “Can you go back to enjoying your retirement now?”

“I am enjoying my retirement,” she said, and Ace could tell she was the one to roll her eyes then. “Your father, however, is being a pain.”

“Make him enjoy his retirement too,” Ace said. “You’re in Norway, I’m sure there’s plenty to do and see.”

Ace could have sworn he heard a shout of “I’m not retired!” coming from the background, but that could also have been his imagination based on how well he knew his dad too.

“And then you can stop calling me to make sure I remember everything because you know I do,” Ace said pointedly.

“Are you saying I’m worrying for nothing?” Rouge asked in that tone of hers that didn’t allow for any arguments.

“Yes, I am,” Ace argued anyway. “We’ve been through this plenty of times, I won’t mess up, mom.”

“Okay, okay,” she said, and Ace could hear she’d still probably call him again soon enough. “I trust you. Just call me if something goes wrong. Or just call me anyway.”

“I promise, I’ll call you as soon as I come back in the morning, I won’t even check what time it is for you,” Ace told her yet again, just like he promised every time she’d called since they landed in Norway.

“You worry too much,” he added gently. “You taught me everything, mom, it’ll be fine.”

“You’re right, sweetheart,” she said. “I’ll talk to you in the morning then.”

“Say hi to dad for me,” Ace said before saying his goodbyes and hanging up. 

He loved his mom dearly, but she worried way too much, even if he could understand that this was all new to her too; the retirement from the shop she’d spend running almost all her life and then leaving the only place she’d lived in had to have taken a toll. Especially given the responsibilities that tied her to the place that she had passed on to him. He could understand all of it easily, but that didn’t change his feelings about the constant phone calls, at increasingly random times of day as the full moon drew nearer.

Ace hadn’t opened the shop just yet, waiting for the full moon to pass just like they’d agreed before his parents left. He could have laughed at his own reluctance to do that when the conversation had come up, how unwilling he’d been to keep the shop closed for days. How quickly that changed once he’d started going to the forest, losing his nights hunched over a broken down altar and burning through the herbs his mom left far too fast.

Finding substitutes was annoying, but not impossible and Ace found that not having to keep the shop open was the only reason he managed to dig through his mom’s collection on time. She didn’t need to know about that in any case since the situation was salvaged. Sure, he was using herbs from his kitchen to perform a very important ritual, but according to the books he consulted, the result should be the same, which was the only thing that mattered. 

There had been plenty of wolfsbane in his own stash, somehow the only plant he never seemed to run out of, but the rest had to be replaced with sage, rosemary and thyme. The leather pouch had a vague scent of a stew and he was possibly a bit hungry at that, but that was neither here nor there.

He pulled his hoodie on before grabbing the book and the pouch on his way out. The air was chilly, but still warmed to some degree by the weak autumn sun. There was quite a bi of ground to cover between the shop and the clearing in the forest, but he was in no hurry; he’d had to wait for the full moon to actually be out before he could start with the last part of the ritual.

Until then, he enjoyed the walk and the calm that enveloped the town, taking note of the way civilization was dropping away the closer he got to the forest, just as the sun was starting to set behind the tree. Leaves crunched underfoot as he walked towards the treeline. 

By the time he reached the forest, night had almost fallen and the only source of light was the bright window visible in the distance. Ace knew it belonged to the cozy looking house settled against the tree line. He’d noticed it on the first day, when he’d been making his way to the forest before nightfall. Noticed it because he was looking for it, just like his mom told him.

A small wooden house with a porch, nestled right into the first trees that led into the forest. It was unremarkable for the most part, with its green shutters and wide stone steps leading up to the front door. What his mother told him about the man living in that house, though, was something else. She didn’t mention a name, just that he was a guardian of the forest of a sort. 

She may have also suggested that Ace made an introduction before going into the forest, but well. That didn’t exactly work out and based on what little he knew about the guy, he had to have been aware of Ace’s presence in the forest so going there a few days too late just felt awkward. 

And with the full moon, the final night of his ritual, he had other things on his mind so this guardian was of little consequence. Right up until the moment Ace noticed the light in the window.

Briefly, the thought crossed Ace’s mind to walk over and knock on the door, to spare a moment and make the very delayed introduction. Only briefly though, before it was gone and he continued towards the trees, attention shifting from the light in the window to the moon.

The days leading up to a full moon were strange in itself, drawing a curious bunch of people into the forest. Ace was no stranger to that and it was honestly none of his business what people did, and seeing as he’d met no one between the trees in the days he’d been coming to the forest, Ace figured this guardian felt the same.

Things were different on a full moon though, more wild and chaotic and far more dangerous. The forest was far from a safe haven, filled to the brim with magic and blood, and Ace was apprehensive about going into all of that. As any sane person would be, other than him and this guardian.

But his mother had been going for years, using her magic to keep the forest and the town safe during full moons, making sure the violence and the bloodlust didn’t bleed out past the tree line. So he had to do it as well. 

It was only that thought that pushed him back into the forest and back to that broken down altar with the runes carved into the surface. The thing was ancient, as much a part of the forest as the oldest trees in the heart of it. Ace imagined there had always been someone to do what his mother had been doing before passing the responsibility to him.

It was an important task and he wasn’t keen on failing.

The walk through the forest, though, was calming in a way that the rest of the endeavor hadn’t been. Ace had plenty of shortcomings and flaws and fears (both rational and irrational), and all of them disappeared once he entered the forest. The hum of magic washed over him just so and he was enveloped in the feeling of  _ home _ . The subtle feeling of the previous days was amplified by the full moon, overwhelming his senses in a way he couldn’t have comprehended before.

He couldn’t be hurt here, not when he was one with the forest. The last of his mother’s magic still wove through the trees, entangling with the threats of a spell he’d been casting to build upon what she’d been creating. 

Ace had power there, entwined with the roots of the trees and the mist that coiled around each trunk and every leaf. He was a part of this sea of magic, and it was a part of him, extending his senses and overwhelming him with a new burden he wasn’t ready to bear. 

It became easier with every step he took, adapting to the heavy feeling of magic and processing the sensations that came with it. The forest was alive around him and inside him, a profound part of him and he could feel every corner, every tree, every single being that was hiding amongst the trees. A surge of awareness rushed through him, and Ace was sure he knew more than he possibly could have imagined. 

They were all specks of bright light around the forest, beautiful and violent and full of anger. Or scared and sad and hiding. One that was curious and bright and beautiful.

It was too much and simultaneously not enough to know.

None of them were that close to where he was going and that served to reassure him for the time being. It explained how his mother stayed safe all this time too, and Ace had to admit that it was a pleasant surprise to feel all of  _ this _ . 

The altar was just as he’d left it the day before, covered in moss and soot and adorned with his bloody handprint on one side where he’d bled magic into the forest. He wasted no time to lower his book down on the stone, opening it on the final page of the ritual, before he arranged several leaves from his pouch onto the bloody handprint. Everything else was left on the ground, unimportant for the time being.

His focus was fully on the book and the words he was meant to speak. He almost knew them by heart, having read the book cover to cover several times since it was entrusted to him, but he kept the book open anyway. A part of him was worried he’d forget something important if he’d tried to recite the whole thing without the book. 

Ace placed his hand on top of the herbs, making sure there was a perfect layer between his skin and the stone. The connection between him and the forest only intensified with the contact, every single soul within his range lighting up brightly. They were a backdrop to the words he was speaking, strengthening the protection and the barrier between the forest and the innocents that slept peacefully beyond the forest. 

The palm of his hand started burning after the first few words, the magic quite literally bleeding out of him and into the stone, into the ground and the forest, spreading as far as the border of the area. The runes shone with a warm glow that originated from his hand, like a dying fire that smelled like burning herbs under his hand. 

There was a light on the edge of his awareness, approaching where he stood, filling him with warmth as it drew nearer until Ace stopped reading and glanced towards the trees. He could tell there was someone there, someone who hesitated in the darkness. 

A growl sounded from the trees, low and seemingly dangerous, but the magic coursing through him only showed an outline of a wolf and screamed of curiosity. A vague wonder clinging to the form like a second skin.

“You can join me, Mr. Wolf,” Ace said, far from afraid.

A whisper of hesitation passed through his mind and then the wolf stepped forward, emerging from the darkness like a ghost, pale and frightening, magnificently huge, but at odds with the softness of its white fur. A pair of pale blue eyes, overwhelmingly keen and curious, gazed right at Ace with unwavering focus. 

“You’re a beautiful big bad wolf, aren’t you?” Ace said, unable to stop the grin or the words from escaping him. 

The forest was calm around him, the magic curling around the wolf in a way that spoke of familiarity, of comfort, of a deep connection, and Ace couldn’t help but revel in the warmth. He didn’t need words to know this was someone who protected the forest, someone who shared the magic that overwhelmed Ace, and he couldn’t remember a time when he felt safer than in that moment. 

Under a full moon, in the middle of a dark forest with a werewolf by his side.


End file.
